Elena's POV
The storm came without warning.
By dusk the sky over Bellagio Heights was a bruise of gray and violet. The air pressed heavy against the glass and thunder rolled in the distance, slow, deliberate, like something ancient waking up.
Elena stood by the window watching the first sheets of rain blur the gardens below. The guards had been doubled since morning, she could see their dark figures patrolling under the flickering lights. Even from here she could tell they were tense.
Something was wrong again. She could feel it in the air, in the way Lucia whispered on the phone, in the way the whole house seemed to pulse with an invisible heartbeat.
When Dante entered the room she didn't turn around. She felt him before she heard him, the weight of his presence filling the space, quiet and certain.
"You should stay away from the windows" he said.
"Why?"
"The power's unstable. If the grid fails the backup system will take time to kick in. I don't like being visible when we're blind."
He was always like that, precise, calm, always thinking ten moves ahead but tonight there was something frayed under the control, a tension he couldn't hide.
"Something happened" she said. "Didn't it?"
He hesitated then nodded once. "Another communication came through. The breach wasn't just Vincenzo."
Her stomach dropped. "There's more than one?"
"Yes."
"Do you know who?"
"Not yet" he said quietly. "But I will."
She turned from the window to face him. "And what happens when you do?"
For a heartbeat he said nothing. Then "I make sure they can't do it again."
The answer shouldn't have comforted her but somehow it did.
Thunder cracked outside, closer this time. The lights flickered, dimmed then steadied again. Dante's eyes moved toward the ceiling, calculating, listening.
"We'll move downstairs" he said. "There's a secure wing under the east hall. You and Mateo will stay there until I say otherwise."
Elena swallowed. "And you?"
"I'll be close."
The words shouldn't have mattered. They did anyway.
She looked toward Mateo's room. "He's asleep."
"Then wake him" Dante said softly. "We don't have much time."
Dante's POV
He moved through the corridors like a shadow, the storm muffling the sound of his steps.
The generator was failing faster than expected. If it went down entirely the estate's perimeter alarms would be useless. The timing wasn't coincidence, someone knew the system well enough to strike when nature did half the work.
He reached for his earpiece. "Marco."
Static crackled. Then "We've got movement near the south gate. Could be false readings from the storm."
"It's not false."
Dante quickened his pace. "Seal the gate. Move two men to the tunnel entrance. I'm taking Elena and the boy below."
"Copy that."
He ended the call and opened the door to the guest suite.
Elena was kneeling beside the bed helping Mateo into a sweater. The boy was half asleep, blinking in confusion. "Is it morning?" he mumbled.
"Not yet" she said gently. "We're just going somewhere safer."
Dante's chest tightened as he watched them, a picture of something he'd never had, something he shouldn't want. He caught Elena's eyes when she looked up.
"How bad is it?" she asked.
He didn't lie. "Bad enough."
They left the room together, Dante leading them through a back staircase that spiraled down into the heart of the house. The walls grew colder with each step, the sound of rain distant but relentless.
Elena carried Mateo close her hand white around the railing. "Where are we going?"
"There's a secure room beneath the cellar" he said. "Steel walls. Independent power. No windows."
She gave a small humorless laugh. "Sounds cozy."
"It's safe" he said.
When they reached the door, a reinforced steel panel hidden behind a wine rack Dante keyed in a code and pushed it open. Inside was a small but well lit space, a single bed, a couch, stocked shelves, a wall of security monitors.
He ushered them in scanning the screens. Most cameras still worked though some flickered under the storm's interference.
Elena stood near the couch holding Mateo. "And you'll stay here too?"
"I'll be upstairs" he said.
Her head snapped up. "No. You said it's dangerous."
He met her gaze. "That's why I can't stay."
For a long moment neither spoke. Thunder rattled the walls.
"You keep saying you can protect us" she said. "But how can you if you're not here?"
He took a slow step toward her. "Because if I'm here it means something's already gone wrong."
Her breath caught, not from fear but from the gravity in his voice.
He reached for the door control but before he could press it her hand shot out, fingers brushing his wrist.
"Dante."
He froze.
"Be careful."
The softness of it disarmed him. He turned to face her fully. Her eyes, even in the dim light were clear, filled with something he didn't deserve.
"I always am," he said.
It was a lie and they both knew it.
Then the lights cut out.
Elena's POV
The world plunged into darkness.
She heard Mateo's frightened gasp, the faint echo of Dante's curse. A second later a red emergency light flickered to life, dim, pulsing, painting everything in shades of crimson.
"Stay with him" Dante said, his voice low but steady. "Don't open the door for anyone."
He turned to leave and before she could stop herself, she reached for him again, just a whisper of contact, her fingertips brushing his sleeve.
"Dante…."
He paused at the threshold.
"You don't have to do this alone" she said.
Something in his expression softened, a flash of vulnerability, there and gone in an instant. "That's the only way I know how."
Then he was gone.
Elena stood there, heartbeat pounding in her throat listening to the sound of his footsteps fading up the stairs.
The monitors on the wall flickered, static, then grainy images of the storm outside. Wind howled against the walls like a living thing. Mateo clung to her side whispering "Mommy, is he coming back?"
She swallowed hard. "Yes," she said. "He always does."
But she didn't know if it was true.
Minutes stretched into hours or maybe it just felt that way. The storm raged on and the cameras blinked in and out. Each time she lost the picture her heart stopped. Each time it returned she searched for his shadow among the guards, the flash of his dark coat, the proof that he was still alive.
Then suddenly the feed from the north hallway went black.
She frowned, leaning closer. Another camera followed, then another.
One by one the screens went dark.
And in the silence that followed a single gunshot split the air.